Madonna Week: Why Madonna - A blog about a love for Madonna

Welcome to Madonna Week. With the imminent and official release of the “Rebel Heart” album, it’s time to celebrate all things Madonna related and have a week where every post, one a day, is all about our Queen. There will be lots of little countdowns, highlighting her amazing body of work but first I wanted to write a little essay with a simple title, why Madonna?

Why Madonna indeed! Why do I love her so much, more than any artist ever? Why am I not alone in this love? I’m going to talk personally to why Madonna is held so highly in my esteem. First I should fill you in on how deep the obsession runs. I have a tattoo with her name, a shrine in my room (really it’s a collection of collectables all placed together on my tall boy in careful order), a house full of memorabilia and a massive collection of CD’s, DVD’s, cassettes (tape and VHS) and my beloved Madonna vinyl. Last year I played my one man show, “Everything I Know I Learnt From Madonna” in both Melbourne and Sydney, and plan to do it again next year for my new play, “The Girlie Show” a coming of age tale set in 1993 about 5 youths who meet in line for Madonna tickets.

My love for Madonna came in 1989 when “Like a Prayer” was released. I had been a casual Madonna fan until then but I was 14, in year 9 at High School and I guess it was the right time. I saw the “Like a Prayer” clip and heard the song for the first time and I was sold. Musically it was perfect, I still maintain it is the best pop song of all time. The video was inspiring, controversial and everything I wanted. A switch was turned on and I was sold, for life.

Most people, except for some people with little taste, will agree that the early Madonna years were exceptionally strong. Albums like “Like A Virgin”, “True Blue” and “Like a Prayer” are filled with brilliant tunes and songs like “Express Yourself”, “Papa Don’t Preach” and “Material Girl” are some of the best known and remembered pop tracks ever. Many, however, believe that as the years have gone on that Madonna has become less relevant and her work isn’t as strong.

Yes, her older work is her strongest but that doesn’t take anything away from the quality of the work she has been producing in the last ten years or so. And really, is music as good as it was back in say 1989? I sound all of my 39 years now, but truly, that was my favourite period in music, period. Madonna’s sound has evolved, she still sounds modern and the songs are fresh. While she doesn’t sell as many albums as before, she still sells millions and hits number one worldwide. Most artists could only dream of Madonna’s album sales. Each of these later albums have some major gold on them. Tracks like “Turn Up the Radio”, “Give It 2 Me” and “Celebration” may not have set the charts on fire, but are amazing pieces of pop that I truly adore. Madonna knows the art of creating pop gems, she did then, she does now. Plus, her tours are still the highest grossing tours whenever she hits the road.

Now for the question of relevance, it’s ridiculous to say she isn’t. Madonna is still a name everyone knows and her age is irrelevant. Why can’t a woman, or man, of any age be in charge of their sexuality? Of course it always seems to be women who cop the flack for not “acting their age”. Seriously, if you look as good as Madonna does in your mid 50’s, then I say do what you want. Actually, who cares if you’re not all toned, if you want to shake it, then just shake it!! It’s time for everyone else to stop telling people how to live their own lives!

But I digress, relevance. There’s a reason that today’s crop of female pop artists look to Madonna as their inspiration. A few years ago it was Britney and Christina pashing Madonna at the MTV awards. Rihanna has stated she’d love to be the Black Madonna, Nicki Minaj and Miley Cyrus gushed over Madonna at the Grammys and Taylor Swift declared herself a mega fan. And as for Gaga, she wouldn’t be emulating Madonna if she wasn’t a big fan. Madonna is a cultural phenomenon, and I highly doubt any pop star will again be as important or as influential as she has been over such a long period of time.

Madonna fell over during her Brit Awards performance a few days ago and it made worldwide news. She graces the cover of “Rolling Stone” magazine this month and she has just had her 44^th number one US Dance hit. This doesn’t sound like the actions of a woman who is irrelevant. I guess the thing that “haters” don’t understand, the more they yell, scream, make idiotic statements and declare Madonna irrelevant, the more she stays relevant. What they don’t quite understand is that if an artist was really irrelevant, then little to no one would be talking about them.

Here’s the amazing thing about Madonna, so many people think that most female artists are just the puppets of men. After the whole Kanye / Beck / Grammy incident, the wash up saw everyone criticising Beyonce for having so many people work on her album. Bjork had to recently stand up and say, “Hey, I actually did most of the producing on my album”; and even Taylor Swift had another female writer comment that she was surprised Taylor had done so work on her own album. But no one doubts Madonna. Even when she works with amazing producers, everyone knows what a massive hand she has in her production. She co-writes everything, her lyrics are poetry and she only does what she wants. She is in charge of her own image and carefully chooses who handles her design and clips. She is loved, and also so hated by sexist old fashioned arses, because she is the controller of her own destiny. She decided she was going to be the biggest star in the world, and she did it. How can you not be inspired by that?

Now let’s move to “Rebel Heart”, the album that will be unleashed this week. It’s one of the highly anticipated albums of the year, the most highly anticipated album of the year for me. First single “Living For Love” is stunning and the first tracks released due to the leaks are all amazing. I am such a big fan of the song, “Joan of Arc”. In fact, every single song released so far is absolutely stunning. I am just so excited to hear the rest. The list of producers is like a wet dream for any pop singer, Diplo, Aviici, Kanye West, Natalia Kills and Billboard to name a few. Of course, they all co-produce with Madonna, she will keep her amazing fingerprints over every track. My poor boyfriend, this album will definitely be on repeat over the next few months.

Sorry for the massive Madonna essay, but there are just so few topics I am this passionate about. Madonna is an inspiration to me, she is politically minded and a friend of the gay community. She stood up for gay rights before other celebrities realised it was a great cause. She is a humanitarian, her work in Malawi building schools is admirable. Plus, she says what she thinks, whether that causes controversy or not. She is a true icon and someone I am proud to say I am a massive fan of.

Long may the reign of Queen Madonna continue. Join me for the rest of the week for some really fun Madonna inspired blogs. And more than anything, come next weekend, remember to buy “Rebel Heart” – I know I will!